I genuinely love every single song from Dan + Shay's most recent "Bigger Houses" album for different reasons, whether it was a country radio single or not. I will explain further when I profile the remaining songs in upcoming posts (I already profiled the lead track, "Breakin' Up With A Broken Heart".), including for the song in the music video below, "Then Again". This track was not a single, but I love the production, vocals, and lyrics.
Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney brought cozy summer night vibes to the music video, with Smyers dressed in a corduroy button-down shirt over a light colored t-shirt and jeans playing his acoustic guitar while Mooney is dressed in a brown t-shirt and light-colored jeans. Smyers and Mooney are sitting on their own bale of hay around a bonfire with a Ford Bronco (vehicle mentioned in the song lyrics), singing a song that reminisces about the past. I love this music video for so many different reasons, one of them being that it is very simple!
Enjoy the music video for "Then Again"!
Music video courtesy of Dan + Shay's YouTube Channel
On November 8, 2024, Dan + Shay posted a behind the scenes music video that shows the making of their original song Christmas song "Parson Brown" in the studio. I always enjoy watching videos of what it looks like when Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney are in the studio bringing their songs to life! Stay tuned for a future post that includes the meaning of the song, the production, and my take on it. In the meantime, enjoy the behind the scenes music video of the song below! Enjoy!
Dan + Shay released their self-titled album on June 22, 2018. "Tequila" was the lead single from the project and propelled the duo to the top of the radio chart later that year. That was followed by their romantic wedding song "Speechless", which also became a huge hit. Both songs are still played weekly on country radio today.
All of this success earned the duo four nominations at the 2019 Country Music Association Awards, which aired on ABC on November 13. They went into the ceremony with chances to win awards in the Single of the Year category for their song "Speechless", Album of the Year for their third project, Dan + Shay, Song of the Year for their smash hit "Tequila", and a consecutive nod in the Vocal Duo of the Year category.
The duo always have some stiff competition in the Vocal Duo of the Year category at the CMA Awards, and 2019 was no exception, with legends, Brooks & Dunn and current duo's, Maddie & Tae, Brothers Osborne, and Florida Georgia Line all in the line up.
When country male vocalist Jimmie Allen and country group Midland announced in unison that the duo had won their first ever CMA Award, they were both shown in the audience; Mooney could not believe it, putting his hand over his eyes and then kissed his wife, Hannah; while Smyers looked excited and hugged his wife Abby.
They both looked very handsome. Smyers was dressed in a black suit with a black shirt underneath and black pants with white stripes, while Mooney was dressed in a white suit with a black button down shirt and black bow tie underneath. His look was finished off with a pair of black pants.
Before they headed up to the stage to accept their award, both guys gave one another a handshake and then a big hug. While "Speechless" played over the speakers of Bridgestone Arena, the duo walked up to the stage, still in shock, and were not able to wipe the gigantic smiles off their faces.
"This is a little overwhelming, man," Mooney began. "There are so many of our heroes in the room, Brooks & Dunn, are you kidding me?"
Mooney went on with his portion of the speech.
"This is absolutely incredible," Mooney continued. "I have so many family and friends watching right now. My grandma is actually in the hospital right now. Granny Mooney, shout out to you. Thank you so much for teaching me about Jesus, and loving people, and being a good person."
He finished his speech by mentioning what country music means to him.
"I'm so thankful for this," Mooney told the audience. "We love country music. It raised us, it teaches us so much about empowerment."
"Thank you country radio for playing these songs, the country music fans, and there's so many people I want to thank right now," Smyers said.
He finished by gushing over Mooney and his vocal talent.
"Shay, I love you man, you're my best friend in the world, and you're my favorite singer in the entire world, and I'm so thankful that I get to do this with you," Smyers remarked.
The two hugged again before leaving the stage.
While the duo were up for four awards, they only took home one trophy. The fact that they picked up their first win the Vocal Duo of the Year category was a huge deal to them and to me as a fan. While they lost in the other three categories, they were still winners to me. Being nominated four times is a win itself.
Stay tuned for future posts on their other wins, performances, and fashion on the red carpet at future CMA Awards broadcasts.
Below is the video of the Dan + Shay winning their first ever CMA Award and a couple of screenshot pictures from the video courtesy of ABC's YouTube page! Enjoy!
Video courtesy of ABC's YouTube Channel
Screenshot of Smyers and Mooney hugging courtesy of ABC's YouTube channel
Screenshot of Smyers and Mooney accepting their award courtesy of ABC's YouTube channel
Over the last decade, Dan + Shay have collaborated with artists from the country category like Carrie Underwood and RaeLynn as well as artists in the pop genre like Charlie Puth, Kelly Clarkson, and Justin Bieber, to name a few. Stay tuned for future posts on each of these pairings!
While I have enjoyed each one of these pairings, my favorite trio was when Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney joined pop star Tori Kelly to perform their hit song "Speechless" at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards on May 1, 2019. This then led to the three releasing a studio version of the track. To me, Mooney's crisp vocals and Kelly's angelic vocals plus Smyers' beautiful harmonies sounded like perfection, a match made in heaven.
Mooney, who wore a camouflage jacket over a white t-shirt and black jeans, sang the first half of the first verse and then traded off to Tori Kelly, who wore a long silky garment over a white top and sparkly pants, to sing the second verse accompanied by the piano of the duo's romantic number one song that was written primarily about seeing their wives in their white dresses at their respective weddings for the first time. However, the song has other meanings that will be discussed in a future post. The two combined their voices for the pre-chorus and then Kelly took over before they arrived at the chorus. Smyers, Mooney, and Kelly sang the chorus together.
Kelly started off the second verse, she and Mooney combined for the second half along with Smyers' harmonies. Smyers wore a black patterned shirt paired with black jeans. The trio sang the chorus again. At the end of chorus, both Mooney and Kelly hit their high registers and received applause from the audience. The two traded off lines at the end, with Kelly showing off her impressive vocals. They came together at the end and you could hear the sweet spot in both of their voices. The trio received a round of applause by the audience in attendance at the ceremony.
Stay tuned for future posts about "Speechless" that will include my take on the original track (the lyrics, vocals, production, story behind the song), the music video that includes footage from both Smyers' and Mooney's weddings, and so much more!
Below, enjoy Dan + Shay and Tori Kelly's harmonious performance of "Speechless" at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards courtesy of Dan + Shay's YouTube channel!
To me, Dan + Shay always put together the funniest, most positive light-hearted content on social media and on their YouTube channel for their fans. Whenever I see one of these videos, they always makes me smile and laugh.
On September 17, 2023, two days after the duo released their highly anticipated Bigger Houses album, they posted a video to their social media pages and on their YouTube channel. The caption on their Instagram post read, "Have you seen our packages?"
Dan Smyers, dressed in a white short-sleeve shirt with blue trim, jeans, and cowboy boots, is standing in the room with wooden walls and floors. He has the "Bigger Houses" CD booklet in his hands, talking to Shay Mooney is who is across the room from him.
"Man, this Bigger Houses packaging looks amazing," Smyers said. "Have you seen it?"
"No let me see," Mooney replies.
"Here, check it out," Smyers answers back.
Smyers tosses the normal size booklet to Mooney. In the next scene, Mooney, who is wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, catches a larger-than-life copy of the Bigger Houses vinyl album package.
"Oh dude, it looks incredible," Mooney exclaims.
The video was made to encourage their fans to buy a copy of the vinyl album and to also to have some word play fun with the albums title. It literally means large houses, but it took on a different meaning when the song with the same name was written. Stay tuned for a full post about the songs meaning and more!
Also, stay tuned for more posts on their past and future creative, short content videos!
Below is the short, yet funny clip courtesy of Dan + Shay's YouTube channel shorts page! Enjoy!
Below are the Dan + Shay trivia questions that I posted on my social media pages on June 17th! Whether you participated in the poll questions on my blog Facebook or Instagram pages or not, please feel free to write in the comments of this post what you think the answers are! To give everyone plenty of time, I will update this post in one week with the correct answers! I would love to see a lot of participation! Happy guessing!
Question 1: Where was Shay born and where did he grow up?
Possible Answer #1: Albany, New York
Possible Answer #2: Sacramento, California
Possible Answer #3: Natural Dam, Arkansas
Question 2: What is the title of Dan + Shay's second album?
Possible Answer #1: "Already Ready"
Possible Answer #2: "Obsessed"
Possible Answer #3: "How Not To"
Question 3: Dan's wife Abby sings background vocals on which Dan + Shay song?
Possible Answer #1: "Steal My Love"
Possible Answer #2: "My Side Of The Fence"
Possible Answer #3: "Always Gonna Be"
I will be back tomorrow with a regular scheduled post!
Dan + Shay can pretty much write about any topic and the song will catch my attention. One that particularly stopped me in my tracks when I heard it for the first time was "Happy New Year", the last song on It's Officially Christmas: The Double Album that the duo released on October 18, 2024.
To me, everything about the song is perfection from the poignant lyrics to Shay Mooney's gorgeous vocals and Dan Smyers' exquisite harmonies, and the beautiful production, which consists of the piano, a string section, and drums to drive the song all the way home.
Recently when I looked at the songwriters on the album and found out that Smyers wrote this track on his own, I was even more impressed with his immense talent than I already am. I want to include many of the full lyrics from the track because they are so well written and paint vibrant pictures and stories by the producer and harmonist of the duo.
The hopeful track starts off with Mooney's voice accompanied by the piano. He sings about how the past year included "rock bottom" moments as well as "mountain top highs", but they made it through the 12 month period. However, Smyers writes that the memories of the "trophies and scars" are erased from their minds.
To me, it feels like the first verse above may have been written about when the duo were on a high after The (Arena Tour) and all of the other successes they had. Then many of those things were erased from their minds when they did not speak to one another four months. This is how I interpret the verse when I listen to it.
In the pre-chorus, which is also Mooney's voice accompanied by the piano, Smyers writes about some of the things he did in the past year, with lyrics like, "I did some things that I wanna take back/Isn't that just the way that it goes" and continues with, "Said goodbye to a friend and we cried til we laughed/ At a bar in the town we call home."
The chorus starts with the piano and string section accompanying Mooney's soaring lead vocals and you can hear Smyers' harmonies if you listen very close when they sing, "Happy New Year everyone/May it be filled with peace and love/We'll say goodbye to the old and hello to the new/I'm just so grateful for you." He continues to sing the chorus, "Happy New Year Happy New Year/May it be filled up with good health and cheer." They finish it with, "May it be blessed All of the best/And may we all have a happy new year."
During verse two, Smyers writes and the duo sings about the things he wants to do in the new year, including "I'll take time to call up my mom/Just so she knows that I love her" and "Give new adventures to all of my dogs/Lord knows they ain't getting younger."
At the start of the second pre-chorus, Smyers writes and the duo sings about being easier on himself and taking the time to be more grateful for himself and his family.
"I'm gonna try to give myself grace/For the things that I cannot control." and "I'm gonna try to thank God each day for the life and the hands that I hold."
I can relate to this entire song. However, the third verse really speaks to me and I can connect to it with my life experiences in the last few years.
"Here's to the lessons we learn as we go/The beauty that comes from the broken/So raise up a glass and join me in a toast/To living with hearts wide open."
When I heard this song for the first time and even when I listen to it today, it gives me chills and makes me emotional. While it is a Christmas and New Years tune, I will listen to it all year long because the lyrics teach us about many life things that are mentioned above. "Happy New Year" was definitely the perfect way to end the 21-song project.
Below is the official audio video of "Happy New Year" courtesy of Dan + Shay's YouTube channel. Enjoy!
Official audio video courtesy of Dan + Shay's YouTube Channel
